Rick Santorum said that students should learn CPR for when there is a school shooter instead of protesting for stricter “phony gun laws.”
“Is this really all about politics or is it all about keeping our schools safe?” the former Republican presidential candidate said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “Because if it is about keeping our schools safe, then we have to have a much broader discussion than the discussion that’s going on right now.
“How about kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that, when there is [a] violent shooter, that you can actually respond to that.”
Saturday, survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, led hundreds of thousands in March for Our Lives demonstrations across the country, calling out Congress on their inaction to prevent gun violence.
Although CNN anchor Brianna Keilar pointed out that the students were taking action, Santorum replied, “Yeah, they took action to ask someone to pass a law. They didn’t take action to say, ‘How do I, as an individual, deal with this problem.’”
Santorum continued to dismiss what he called “phony gun laws” and the effort for gun control.
“I think everyone should be responsible and deal with the problems that we have to confront in our lives,” he said. “And ignoring those problems and saying they’re not going to come to me and saying some phony gun law is gonna solve it. Phony gun laws don’t solve these problems.”
TheWrap reached out to Santorum for additional comment.
You can watch the CNN interview above; Santorum’s comment begin at the 4:40 mark.
His comments left many on social media scratching their heads.
Instead of not wanting to get shot, how about you get better at being shot? https://t.co/5o1ivrqAqb
— You can still register to vote in all 50 states (@LOLGOP) March 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/977970823024775169?s=20
https://twitter.com/bruceanderson/status/977901919237648385
https://twitter.com/Geddes28/status/977902061923676160
Serious question: Has @RickSantorum seen images from the slaughter at Stoneman Douglas High? What kind of CPR could have been used to save them?
Stop putting this man on television. https://t.co/UDR71Alae0
— Ja’han Jones (@_Jahan) March 25, 2018
As a surgeon, I’ve operated on gunshot victims who’ve had bullets tear through their intestines, cut through their spinal cord, and pulverize their kidneys and liver. Rick Santorum telling kids to shut up and take CPR classes is simply unconscionable.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) March 25, 2018
Dear Rick Santorum: CPR is good for heart stoppage. Not good for victims of multiple AR-15 bullets, which typically impart 3 times the lethal energy upon impact than a 9mm handgun bullet. AR-15 bullets obliterate organs and cause so much bleeding that victims die very quickly. https://t.co/5E0HBUFT9b
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 25, 2018
Dear Rick Santorum,
As a healthcare professional who is certified in CPR, I can confirm that performing CPR can’t remove AR-15 bullets from a body. Get a clue.
Sincerely,
Common Sense— Jonny Loquasto (@JQuasto) March 25, 2018
Those silly kids. Imagine them thinking that passing laws to prevent the mass slaughter of innocent people was something politicians were supposed to do. Rick Santorum sure set them straight, basically saying “Accept senseless deaths and learn CPR”.
— Steve Redmond (@sjredmond) March 25, 2018